This book examines the ways in which individual moments of violence develop, and are presented, in comics and graphic novels. It raises questions about depiction and the act of showing violence, but it also considers the ways in which violence can affect those involved over the long term.

Representing Acts of Violence in Comics IntroductionNina Mickwitz, Ian Horton & Ian Hague Depiction Picturing National and personal acts of violence: modes of depiction in Barefoot Gen John Miers Bloody Murder in the Bible: Graphic Representations of the "First Murder" in Biblical ComicsZanne Domoney-Lyttle A Balancing Act: Didactic Spectacle in Jack Jackson's "Nits Make Lice" and Slow Death ComixLaurike in 't Veld Embodiment Seeing (in) Red: "Thick" Violence in Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's Red: A Haida MangaLaura A. Pearson Embodied Reading and Performing Vulnerability in Joe Sacco's The Great WarEszter Szép Humour "Boiled or fried, Dennis?" Violence, play and narrative in 'Dennis the Menace and Gnasher'Christopher J. Thompson Humour as a strategy in communicating sexual and domestic abuse of women in comicsNicola Streeten Gendered and Sexual Violence The risks of representation: making gender and violence visible in The Ballad of Halo JonesMaggie Gray Unmaking the Apocalypse: Pain, Violence, Torture, and Weaponizing the Black, Female BodyJoseph Willis Killgrave, The Purple ManJamie Brassett and Richard Reynolds